Mazda is faced with a quandary: Exactly how do you destroy thousands of brand new cars safely and efficiently? From start to finish, you have to detonate the air bags, drain all the fluids, gut the interiors and engine compartment, and then squash and shred them to smithereens. And these cars really are new, with less than 10 miles on each of them. As The Wall Street Journal reports, this is exactly what Mazda is currently going through, as it crushes over 4,700 cars that date back to an accident in the Pacific Ocean two years ago.

Back then, a freighter called the Cougar Ace spent weeks bobbing on the high seas, listing at a severe 60-degree angle, and nearly sank before finally being righted, the report said: “The mishap created a dilemma: What to do with the cars? They had remained safely strapped down throughout the ordeal—but no one knew for sure what damage, if any, might be caused by dangling cars at such a steep angle for so long. Might corrosive fluids seep into chambers where they don’t belong? Was the Cougar Ace now full of lemons?”

Hence, the detailed analysis of how to destroy the cars. That’s despite requests coming left and right from auto schools, Hollywood stunt companies, and eager customers who wanted a deal on a “new” Mazda. The problem was twofold; Mazda wanted to avoid the cars ending up in the hands of scammers, such as what happened with flood vehicles from Hurricane Katrina. And they also wanted to avoid lawsuits in the event that airbags or other safety equipment malfunctioned on these cars some time in the future. Seems like a huge waste, but an unfortunately necessary one.